What Used To Be
by Silicon2123
Summary: Wait, they used to be friends? Who would have guessed? I just had inspiration for an ending, but the middle isn't quite finished. I'll be adding chapters in there as ideas come. I'll make it so the story will still make sense, though.
1. Secret Science

Annie stalked out of the park. Stupid Electric Company. Always ruined everything. She plopped down on the hard wooden bench. Then, she heard footsteps walking away from her. Annie stood up and walked briskly away. Then she stopped. No way, she thought. No way on Earth _or_ Skeleki am I going back there.

"Lisa?" she called.

"Yeah?" Lisa answered.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Diner, I guess."

"Can I come with you?"

"W-we-well, I-I, uh, sure." Lisa stuttered. She had become unaccustomed to requests from Annie Scrambler.

"Thanks." Annie said quickly.

"Sure thing." The pair set off.

"Um, Annie? It's going to look really weird if we just waltz into the diner together." Lisa mused.

"True, true. Then I'll just go somewhere else."

"I don't want you to do that. You'll surely be caught." Annie noted the concern in her voice.

"Lisa, did you hear what you just said? Me get caught? Never." She said indignantly. "Well, there was that one time in third grade…"

"When you skipped Science because you already knew the material and was bored out of your mind? Yeah, I remember. That was funny until they found us."

Flashback:

Annie Scrambler walked in line with her class mates, staring at her new green shoes as the feet they covered plodded off to her next class.

"Annie!" an urgent whisper came from behind her.

"What?" she asked.

"Now!" The two girls silently left the order of the line, darting off down another hallway. After a few minutes of running down the corridors, the girls found their destination. They had discovered the small area under the East staircase themselves. It was a great hiding place, perfect for missing boring classes. Of course they knew it was important to go to class, but science was so dull to them. The two girls were experts in third grade science. How could they not be? They learned it together under that same staircase as smart and curious second graders.

"Nice call, Lisa. No grownups saw us." Lisa giggled as she twirled her blonde hair around her finger.

"I love being a spy."

"Agreed." Annie nodded her head. She pulled the bottom of her purple dress over her knees as she sat down cross legged on the cold floor. Lisa did the same with her own identical dress.

"Did you bring the book?" Lisa asked.

"Yep." Annie pulled a high school science textbook out from under her shirt. Quickly she opened it and flipped to the twenty fifth page. Physics. Eagerly, Lisa and Annie devoured the writing on the pages.

"Wait," Lisa said, confused, "what exactly are quantum numbers?" Annie shushed her.

"I'll tell you later, just let me finish this part." They were so engrossed in their reading, they didn't hear the footsteps approaching.

"Annie, Lisa, come here right now." The stern voice of their teacher broke the silence. Sheepishly, the pair crawled out of their not-so-secret hiding place.

"How did you find us?" Lisa asked.

"It was really hard. Luckily, Danny Rebus knew where you two like to run off to."

"Danny." Annie seethed.

"Oh," the teacher said, "he told me to tell you when I found you that it was revenge for the time you two knocked over your glue bottle in kindergarten and got glue on his popsicle sticks." Lisa and Annie sighed.

"I so hate when he does that." They said in unison, sharing a secret smile.

"Now follow me." The teacher said strictly.

"Where to?" Annie inquired.

"The principle." The teacher answered.

End Flashback.

"I know where to go." They said together, then laughed. It was just like old times.


	2. Annoying Ailment

Lisa and Annie made their way down the familiar path, stopping only once they had reached their old school. As they gazed through the bars of the playground, memories came flooding back.

"Remember that time when you got sick over there?" Annie laughed. Lisa glared at her.

"That was not very funny."

"I never said it was."

"But you laughed."

"Only because it seems like it happened a hundred years ago." Lisa smiled.

"True."

Flashback:

"Annie, I don't feel so good." Lisa laid her head on Annie's shoulder. Well, Annie corrected in her head. Then it hit her. If Lisa was using improper grammar, she must really be sick. It was only reinforced when Lisa fell to the side and vomited up what little lunch she had consumed.

"Come on, Lisa. Let's get you to the nurse." Annie helped Lisa to her feet and held her steady as they made their way down the seemingly endless hallways. By the time Lisa and Annie got there, Lisa was sweating uncontrollably and her eyelids were drooping. The nurse helped her lie down and took her temperature. Annie watched as the numbers on the thermometer climbed higher and higher, finally stopping at 103.8.

"Oh, you poor dear." The nurse said kindly. "I'm going to call you mother right away and she can take you home." Lisa didn't protest. She lay perfectly still on the white cot. Annie tucked a lock of damp hair behind her sick friend's ear.

"It's going to be okay, Lis. You're going to be okay." Lisa showed no signs of hearing, conserving all of her energy to defend herself against her invisible assailant. Annie stayed with her until her mother came.

The next day, Annie woke up and bolted out of the house on a direct course to Lisa. She didn't even bother to eat breakfast. A very tired looking Mrs. Heffenbacher answered Annie's knocks at the door.

"How's Lisa?" Annie asked.

"Not too great, Annie. Her fever went to 104.6 and she's shivering and sweating at the same time."

"Where is she?"

"She's in the bathtub. The doctor said to stick her in cold water to try and break her fever. I put her in her bathing suit to try and make it seem like a pool party." The mother smiled at her creativity.

"Can I go see her?" Annie inquired.

"I suppose so. The doctor says she isn't contagious." Annie had no trouble locating her feverish friend. Lisa was lying in the water, flicking her fingers around to create small waves of water. This seemed to amuse her to no end, but then again, Lisa was very easily amused. As Annie looked her over, she couldn't tell whether the girl was soaked in water or sweat. An untouched bowl of strawberry ice cream lay on the floor beside her.

"Hi Lisa." Annie spoke suddenly, startling Lisa. Her sudden movement sent water cascading over the edge of the tub.

"Annie? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you." Annie picked up the ice cream. "Why aren't you eating? Strawberry is your favorite!"

"I'm not hungry." Lisa pouted.

"Come on. What if I feed it to you like a baby?" Lisa giggled and parted her lips. Annie took a small spoonful and guided it towards Lisa's open mouth. Lisa swallowed the cool ice cream without complaint. The pink lump in the bowl grew smaller and smaller as Annie spooned more and more ice cream into Lisa's thankful body. Pausing for a moment to wipe a fleck of pink off Lisa's chin, Annie remarked on how the ice cream was finished.

"Thanks, Annie." Lisa managed a grateful smile before her mother came sweeping into the room with Lisa's favorite pajamas in hand. Annie smiled. She had a matching pair.

"All right, Lisa. " Let's get you out before you become a living prune." Annie politely looked away as Lisa was lifted out of the tub, toweled off, and changed into her pajamas. "I think you need to go now Annie," Lisa's mother said, "but thanks for coming." Annie turned to say goodbye to her friend, but Lisa was already asleep.

As the days went past, Annie took to visiting Lisa every afternoon, bring with her games, books, and cards from her friends.

"Hey, Annie, look at this one!" Lisa called, pointing to a bright red card. "It's a rebus puzzle!" Annie and Lisa looked over the pictures.

"Get-"

"Well-"

"Soon-"

"Knot?" Annie rolled her eyes. Stupid Danny.

"It's okay." She reassured her friend. "I'm sure you stepped on his foot in preschool or something." Lisa smiled.

"You know, I bet that's true. Sometimes I wonder how he has any friends, though."

"Me too." Annie agreed. "Why would anyone ever want to hang around people like him?" Lisa shrugged.

"Not me."

"Did you like those Casey Calloway books I brought you?"

"Oh, I forgot to thank you for them. They are really fun."

"Have you read about Mara yet?"

"That criminal who gets forgiven? Yeah. I don't know whether I would have forgiven her, though."

"Why not?" Annie asked.

"The things she had done were so terrible."

"But she wasn't bad. She just made bad choices." An awkward silence fell over the room. "Anyways," Annie said quickly, "Did you get to that place in the book where Ginger Snap Gonzalez tricks that guy into telling her the answer?"

"Yes! I love that girl." Annie laughed.

"You would! You're so much like her."

"And you're like that evil lady who stole the diamond necklace." Lisa teased.

"Me?" Annie said in mock indignation. "Evil?"

"I can totally see that." Lisa said. Annie stuck her tongue out.

End flashback.

"You know Annie," Lisa began, "now that I think of it, forgiving Mara doesn't seem so bad after all."


	3. Sunny Streets

**A/N: **Sorry it took me so long to update. I got…sidetracked. LTA, this is a past-relationship-with-a-Prankster story. Sorry for the confusion! JAS, you've gotten me hooked on songfics. Here's one more. The song is "Rainbow Veins," by Owl City. I still do not own anything, and I cut out one stanza of the song for the sake of flow-ability. Oh, and by the way, this takes place when they are in…maybe 5th-7th grade?

_High rise, veins of the avenue  
Bright eyes and subtle variations of blue  
Everywhere is balanced there like a rainbow above you  
Street lights glisten on the boulevard_

_And cold nights make staying alert so hard  
For heaven's sake, keep me awake so I won't be caught off guard_

"Come on, Annie! Let's go somewhere else. You haven't moved in…too long." Annie looked up with at Lisa with red eyes, her tearstained face wearing an expression of pure and utter dejectedness.

"I don't want to."

_Clearly I am a passerby but I'll find a place to stay  
Dear pacific day, won't you take me away?  
_

"Pretty please?" Lisa pouted. Annie shook her head.

"I don't belong there."

_  
Small town hearts of the New Year_

_Brought down by gravity, crystal clear  
City fog and brave dialogue converge on the frontier  
Make haste, I feel your heartbeat  
With new taste for speed, out on the street  
Find a road to a humble abode where both of our routes meet  
_

Lisa bent down and offered her hand. Annie took it.

_The silver sound is all around and the colors fall like snow  
The feeling of letting go, I guess we'll never know_

Lisa pushed open the door and pulled Annie out onto the sunny streets. She threw her head back and laughed. Annie marveled at her joy. She gave a small smile. Encouraged, Lisa tightened her hold on Annie's hand and skipped down the street. __

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains  
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins  
Cause your heart has a lack of color and we should have known  
That we'd grow up sooner or later cause we wasted all our free time alone

"Thanks." Annie said quietly.

"Sure thing."

"Lisa?"

"Yeah?"

"Just…thanks." __

Your nerves gather with the altitude  
Exhale the stress so you don't come unglued  
Somewhere there is a happy affair, a ghost of a good mood  


The two girls ran as fast as they could, trailing colors behind them. Lisa swore they reached the speed of sound before she tripped, bringing them both down.

_We were the crashing whitecaps  
On the ocean  
And what lovely seaside holiday, away  
A palm tree and Christmas lights  
My emotion  
Struck a sparkling tone like a xylophone  
As we spent the day alone_

Before either of them looked at a clock, the sun began to go down, filling the sky with shades of pink that only Lisa would wear.

"Now wasn't that fun?" Lisa asked. Annie nodded.

"I won't argue that."

"What would you argue?"

"The ending of this day."

"So would I."__

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains  
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins  
Cause your heart has a lack of color and we should've known  
That we'd grow up sooner or later cause we wasted all our free time alone


	4. Despairing Decisions

If their friendship began to unravel early on, Lisa never noticed it. In fact, she frequently wrote in her diary of her wedding, listing Annie as her first bride's maid choice. But when Lisa noticed Annie spending a less time with her, and a little more time elsewhere, she began to get nervous.

"Annie?"

"What's up?"

"Are you still my friend?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Lisa looked up at her insistently.

"Yes Lisa, I am still your friend. Why would you think anything else?"

"Well, you've been kind of distant lately." She said nervously.

"Nah. You're imagining things."

"Okay." Lisa agreed. She'd blame it on anything.

The next day in school, Lisa and Annie arrived in their classroom early. As Lisa pulled out her books, Annie snuck over to the teacher's desk.

"Annie, what are you doing?"

"I want to see my grade on that test we took a few days ago."

"You can't look! That's not fair to everyone else!"

"So? I'll tell you yours too if you'd like."

"Annie, that's not right."

"What's your point?"

And so it went on like that, Annie breaking more and more rules, and Lisa being helpless to stop her.

"Annie, you can't continue this."

"Fine." Annie obliged. "Whatever makes you happy."

And Annie actually did stop. However, their relationship never completely healed as Lisa began to lose her ever faithful trust in Annie.

_A few days later…_

"Lisa, come meet my new friend." Annie said excitedly.

"What's her name?" Lisa inquired.

"His name. His name is Manny."

"Is he nice?"

"Yeah, and he's great with computers too."

"I'm happy for you." Lisa said quietly.

"And guess what?" Annie went on, oblivious to Lisa's distress.

"What?"

"He introduced me to his friends Danny and Francine! They really want me to join their club."

"But I thought you were going to join the Electric Company with me." Lisa said, close to tears. "What about that?"

"I'm sure I can be in both." Annie said happily.

"No!" Lisa shouted, losing what little control she had left. "No you can't!"

"Whoa, Lisa, what is wrong with you?"

"You are! Ever since you looked at your grade from the teacher's desk, and ever since you met these new friends of yours, you've been forgetting about me. Remember last Tuesday? Remember when we were supposed to meet in the park at four?

"Lis-"

"You probably don't, because you didn't come!" Lisa was still shouting. "You left me standing there waiting for you until it got dark outside. What about then?"

"Lisa, please listen to m-"

"No, I won't listen to you. Why should I want to hear what you have to say? Why is it of any importance to me?" Annie lost her patience.

"Because I was going to say no, that's why!" She yelled back. "Can't you just shut up for a minute and hear me talk? For a brilliant student, you can be such a stupid person sometimes!" Lisa looked at her murderously.

"Oh really? I don't believe you. I would believe a friend, and you are no friend of mine." Lisa shoved Annie hard and ran away. Annie sat still on the pavement, staining it red.

When Lisa got home, she pushed past her mother's concerned questions and locked herself in her room. She didn't come out for dinner. Instead, she buried her face in her knees and soaked her pink tights through with salty tears. Contrary to her beliefs, she wasn't the only one who cried herself to sleep that night.

Annie pounded relentlessly at her wall, trying to rid herself of rage. Her hand was swollen by the time she pulled away. Why did Lisa hate her so? Couldn't they all be friends? She was certain she would like Danny. He was quiet at times just like she was, and apparently, they were both obscenely sensitive. She was actually going to join the Electric Company, and send her regrets to her new friends who called themselves the Pranksters, but why do that now? She had nothing for her in the Electric Company. She had no friends there. Angrily, she left her room and found the phone. She dialed Francine's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi Francine, it's Annie. I'm in."

"Good to have you." Annie hung up. She cried until her tears were no longer salty.


End file.
